Thanksgiving tradition continues for Dick Hammer

Veteran broadcaster will call his 45th Easton-P'burg game on Thursday morning.

November 22, 2011|Keith Groller

Everyone has their favorite Thanksgiving traditions.

Macy's parade in the Big Apple in the morning. Lions on TV in the early afternoon, Cowboys later. Falling asleep on the recliner after the big turkey dinner.

For thousands of Easton and Phillipsburg football fans, no Thanksgiving would be complete without having Dick Hammer in the press box at Fisher Field commenting on the annual battle between the Red Rovers and Stateliners

Hammer will be in his familiar perch on Thursday morning, working his 45th game in the annual Thanksgiving border war.

Although WEST is no longer airing doing Easton and P'burg games, and sadly hasn't done them for several years, Hammer can still be heard on TV during the WBPH broadcast.

He can also be heard anywhere in the world because this year the TV broadcast is being streamed across the Internet for $2.95.

Hammer will be doing the color commentary with Ned Bolcar. Mick Moninghoff will do the play by play with the one and only Jack Logic working the sidelines.

Hammer is a longtime play-by-play man and said it's an adjustment to do color.

"You have to look at the game differently," he said. "You follow the ball as the play-by-play man, but here you might be following what the defensive backs are doing in coverage or see that someone is doing a good job on the offensive line."

Hammer is happy to be working with Moninghoff, whom he calls one of his students.

"He did a couple of things for us at WEST when he was just getting started," Hammer said. "Plus, he's a Temple graduate like me, so we can always talk about the Owls."

Hammer recently worked his 42nd Lehigh-Lafayette game and he feels blessed to be able to work the two biggest single-game attractions in Lehigh Valley sports every year.

"It is something you never dream of when you get started in this business," he said. "I came here and did my first Easton-Phillipsburg game in 1957 and when they had the old L-shaped stands, they had 20,000 people up there. I didn't expect that. I came from Manheim Central High, where we'd get 500 or 1,000 at most. I was amazed at the tradition for this game and Lehigh-Lafayette.

"You never forget the first time you do things and that first Lehigh-Lafayette game in 1957 was something special, too. It snowed and it felt like minus-10 degrees. And then when the crowd made some noise that whole press box at old Taylor Stadium started swaying back and forth. I'll never forget that."

Hammer misses doing the high school games all season.

"I miss the atmosphere, the feeling of being out there on a game night," he said. "I don't miss having to get the information from the New Jersey schools that P'burg plays, however. They didn't have any idea what kind of information we needed for our broadcasts, but I do miss the other stuff."

He said he still has trouble getting to sleep the night before one of these big games.

"Things run through your mind about how things will go and what you need to do," he said. "Back in the old days we did two games. We'd do Wilson and Nazareth in the morning at Cottingham and then stop in at [spotter] Dick Laubach's mother's house for a little lunch and then go up the hill for Easton-P'burg."

So many things have changed over the years in sports and in other facets of life.

It's refreshing to know something remains the same — Dick Hammer is still working Easton-P'burg games.

•For those looking for a radio option for the game, ESPN of the Lehigh Valley (AM 1230 and 1320) will have game coverage with Tom Fallon and Dave Druckenmiller calling the action.

STRONG FINISH

ESPN is saying that the final race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup on Sunday earned the largest viewership ever for NASCAR on the worldwide leader.

The audience reached its peak at 10.5 million at 8:08 p.m. when Tony Stewart took the checkered flag and the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The broadcast averaged 6,799,000 viewers and earned a 4.0 rating. The viewership average broke ESPN's previous record of 6,668,000 viewers for the 2008 Brickyard 400.

Viewership was up 21 percent from last year's season finale, and for the season, the NASCAR races on ESPN and ABC enjoyed a 14.8 percent increase in viewers.

WHAT YOU DIDN'T SEE

What NASCAR needs is some bad guys and the Busch brothers always fill the bill. Everybody knows about Kyle Busch, but Kurt Busch delivered an expletive-filled tirade at ESPN's Dr. Jerry Punch outside his hauler on Sunday after getting knocked out of the race. Busch wanted no part of waiting around for Punch to interview him and let him know it.

The scene was captured for the Internet, and Penske Racing had to issue an apology.

KEITH'S CAN'T MISS

At 9:15 p.m. Friday, HBO will debut "Preview to 24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road To The NHL Winter Classic." Last year's HBO 24/7 series on the Caps/Penguins Winter Classic in Pittsburgh was as compelling as the game itself.